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July 13, 2011
The NSCA national conference was held this past week at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. For me, this was a particularly special event as I was named the NSCA Personal Trainer of the Year at the awards banquet ceremony. I also got to catch up with many friends and colleagues, some of whom I haven’t seen for a while, as well as meeting with some of the top researchers in the field about my doctoral work.
Throughout it all, I spent the majority of the days attending various presentations. Here are some of the highlights from the sessions I attended:
- JC Santana gave two presentations. His first was a hands on presentation on bodyweight training. Lots of cool variations of exercises such as pushups, squats and lunges that could be used to alter muscle recruitment and energy system development. His second presentation was called “Combat Spartan Training.” Here JC discussed an approach to fitness that he uses with MMA fighters, discussing applications for general fitness training. JC is one of the most dynamic presenters in the fitness field, and both sessions were highly entertaining.
- Dr. Dan Bernadot presented on nutrient timing. Certainly Bernadot has good credentials–professor of nutrition, multiple research publications, etc. His primary contention, however, was the importance of consuming multiple, small meals throughout the day to optimize fat loss. As I mentioned in a previous post, this claim is contrary to the majority of research that I’ve seen. He did provide several references to support his contention, so I need to go back and review these studies. I’ll have more to say on this in a future post.
- Dr. Joe Weir presented on customized supplement approaches for the future. This was an extremely interesting lecture where Weir discussed the role of genetics in response to nutrition. He presented evidence, for example, that a certain percentage of the population has been shown to be susceptible to weight gain from saturated fat intake while others are at a considerably less risk. The take home message is that the time is rapidly approaching where we can get a genetic printout of our bodies and then individualize a nutritional regimen accordingly. We should be able to do the same with exercise, too.
- John Cissik presented on evidence-based core training. This was one of my favorite presentations of the conference. As the name of the discussion implies, John discussed the research on the benefits (or lack of such) of core training. As John points out, there is a surprising dearth of evidence to support the need for a core training regimen with respect to improving sports performance and aiding in rehabilitation. Now some apparently misinterpreted John’s message to mean that core training is a waste of time. This isn’t the case. Rather, it simply implies that we should take a closer look at the evidence and not be so quick to assume that the standard advice about the subject is substantiated by research. Look for an interview with John in a future blog post.
- Dr. Andy Fry did an excellent presentation titled “Back to the Basics about Strength and Conditioning.” Dr. Fry provided a template that could be used to create a strength training routine from scratch. What I liked best about his approach is that he did not advocate a particular method of training. Rather, he presented a modifiable way to systematically create a routine. It was a highly practical session and his technique should be standard reading for trainers and fitness enthusiasts alike.
- Dr. Chad Kerksick co-presented on the importance of training to failure. This is a heavily debated topic and Kerksick did an excellent job reviewing the literature and presenting recommendations on the topic. Bottom line is that training to failure is an important component of a training routine, but it’s use should be balanced by recovery issues. Some failure training is necessary, but it should be periodized in a routine depending on the goal’s of the lifter.
There were many other excellent presentations, but I’m running short of time. Next year’s conference will be in Providence, RI. Hope to see you there!
Stay Fit!
Brad
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Nice one, Brad! And you need to update your About page, Brad. Link your studies in there. I know you have a ton!
Comment by Anoop — July 14, 2011 @ 10:16 pm
Thanks Anoop. I know I have to update the About page. Will do so soon 🙂
Brad
Comment by Brad — July 17, 2011 @ 6:17 pm
WOW! Sounds awesome and too bad I was not able to make it. Could not swing another trip to Vegas after presenting at ISSN about 10 days before.
Also, congrats on your huge award! Congrats!!
Questions/comments
Genetics and nutrition
Are there any reliable tests to even do this yet? The ones I have seen, I am unimpressed with so far. How do you fit in the idea of epigenetics into it?
Sounds like a great core presentation! I remember seeing some work from John Gray (I think) who worked in McGill’s lab and his thoughts were that core training for sport as it is commonly done is NOT specific. Doing a plank for 2 minutes is not at all similar to spiking a volleyball in regards to core performance.
I love Dr. Fry’s work on fatigue. Great stuff.
Training to failure
I still can’t get on board with training to failure other than a distress/simulated condition training which would only be about once every 3-8 weeks for most. I would be interested to see his rationale since he is a very bright guy.
I will do my best to make it out next year to RI!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Comment by Mike T Nelson — July 19, 2011 @ 11:47 am
Thanks Mike. As to your questions/comments:
1) I don’t believe the technology has progressed to this point where genetic influences can be reliably applied to nutrition. But according to Dr. Weir, it won’t be long before such technology is available.
2) John’s talk on core training was excellent. Not only did he cite a lack of evidence for sport-specific purposes, but also a dearth of research showing cause/effect for injury and lower back pain relief. Very insightful info.
3) Based on the evidence I’ve seen as well as from personal experience, training to failure is an important component of hypertrophy training. Jeff Willardson did a nice review article on this some years back. Since then, work from the lab of Stu Phillips indicates that training to failure is necessary to optimize post-exercise protein synthesis. The importance of failure training is a bit more sketchy when it comes to training for max strength. IMO, it’s essential to periodize failure training, using it selectively throughout a training cycle to achieve greatest benefit while minimizing the potential for overtraining.
Hope you can make it next year!
Brad
Comment by Brad — July 19, 2011 @ 7:04 pm
I think the whole personal genomics is really promising, especially in cancer research. I am a bit doubtful about the ‘soon’ part though. When we mapped the human genome in 2000, Francis Collins (head of the National Human Genome Research) said personal medicine will emerge by the year 2010. I don’t think it has.
I think the training to failure is a hard one to study. This is the area where the art will have to come in. I don’t think science can come with an exact answer to this. And Brad makes a good point about maximum strength and going to failure. Training close to failure might be required for high rep raining to recruit the Type 2 fibers. In low reps, they get recruited from the first rep and probably not required to hit failure.
Comment by Anoop — July 20, 2011 @ 8:48 am
Brad,
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Dr. Bernadot’s theories of nutrient timing. Will you be doing a follow up blog post? (Or maybe you already have and I just haven’t found it yet…)
I actually had the privilege of taking a nutrition class with Dr. Bernadot at Georgia State last summer. The course focused on nutrition for athletes, and I was really intrigued by what he had to say about maintaining energy balance and the effects it has on muscle gain and fat loss. I’m certainly no expert on the topic, and I’d love to hear other’s thoughts on it. He certainly makes a compelling argument!
–Riss
Comment by Riss — September 19, 2011 @ 5:47 pm